AeHIN GIS Lab resources

The AeHIN GIS Lab is an innovative approach to strengthen the technical capacity of the health sector in countries (government and partners) to fully benefit from the power of geography and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) through the geo-enabling of their Health Information System (HIS).

Born from the thinking of some individuals around a decade ago it had to wait until 2016 to become a reality thanks to the vision and resources of ADB and WHO, the existence of AeHIN and partnership with the private sector. Please look at the About Us page and the AeHIN GIS Lab pager for more information about the vision and objectives behind the AeHIN GIS Lab.

The AeHIN GIS Lab offers different resources to support the health sector (government and partners) with the geo-enabling of their HIS.

The AeHIN GIS Lab staff

Steeve Ebener (Manager): 18 years of experience in working with the health sector at both the global (World Health Organization) and national level to provide technical support to the health and emergency management sectors in countries when it comes to: integrating the geographic and time dimensions in their information systems; using the resulting standardized and documented geospatial data in advanced spatial analysis and connecting the health sector to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI).

Izay Pantanilla (GIS analyst): Geographer with more than 6 years of experience as a GIS Analyst/Specialist working with government agencies, private companies and international organizations.

Melvin Marzan (Volunteer): More than 5 years of experience providing public health data, information and knowledge management support to UNICEF, WHO and Philippines' Department of Health.

The AeHIN GIS Lab network

Being able to converse with peers across and and beyond the region is key to strengthen in country capacity.The AeHIN GIS Lab is therefore using GeoNet and LinkedIn as the platforms to bring together GIS professionals from the public health sector and therefore facilitate the sharing of news, events, training opportunities and material of potential interest as well as address issues they might face in their day to day work. This is also the platform through which AeHIN Members can communicate with the GIS Lab staff.

The following steps will allow you to access the group on GeoNet and become a group member:

Brokering with the private sector and the open source community to give access to the appropriate GIS technology;

Coaching GIS based projects.

The countries eligible for onsite support are (by alphabetical order): Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. As of now, the on-site technical assistance has started in Cambodia and Myanmar and discussions are ongoing regarding Vietnam. This list is meant to evolve and grow as additional financial resources are made available to the AeHIN GIS Lab.

Remote technical assistance

Thanks to the support provided by ADB, the AeHIN GIS Lab is also in the position to provide remote assistance to the health sector in Malaria endemic AeHIN Member countries. The list of these countries can be downloaded from here. Please contact us to find out more about the support that the Lab can provide.

Access to GIS technology

While the Lab is not promoting the use of any particular GIS technology, the NGO agreement signed with Esri allows eligible AeHIN Member countries to benefit from the following:

ArcGIS online and ArcGIS desktop licenses that can be freely borrowed for a maximum period of respectively 6 month and 1 year. The list of eligible counties can be downloaded from here and the condition of use can be found as part of the request form downloadable from here;

The AeHIN GIS Lab is working with partners at developing the following series of guidance documents aiming at homogenizing and improving the quality of geospatial data in the health sector in the region:

Documents and protocols to help countries in the use of GIS to conduct analysis pertinent to UHC;

A course on HIS geo-enabling for Schools of Public Health in Asia and the Pacific; and

A toolkit to help countries asses and strengthen the geo-enabling of their HIS

A knowledge repository.

This material will be posted here as it becomes available.

AeHIN GIS Lab workshops

The AeHIN GIS Lab is conducting regional workshops as a way to share experience, expertise and knowledge across the region.

The first workshop organized jointly with Esri took place during the 4th AeHIN General Meeting in Bali, Indonesia (29-30 October 2015). Under the theme "GIS in support to Universal Health Coverage (UHC)", this workshop grouped 32 participants from 17 countries in the region and beyond. The agenda, list of participants and the slides presented during this workshop can be downloaded from here.

The second one took place prior to the 2016 Digital Health Conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar (7 March 2017). Under the them "GIS Country level experiences, challenges and needs" this workshop grouped 40 participants from 14 countries with the objective to share knowledge, learn from other as well as discuss GIS country level experiences, challenges, needs and way forward. The executive summary together with the slides presented during the workshop and the result of the quick HIS geo-enabling assessment survey conducted prior to the workshop can be downloaded from here.

The AeHIN GIS Lab is also contributing to the development of the material and the conduct of GIS training workshops organized by the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU). The first two session of this workshop took place in September 2016 and April 2017 in Bangkok.